


Any Sky

by sue_denimme



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-03
Updated: 2017-06-03
Packaged: 2018-11-08 15:48:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11084811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sue_denimme/pseuds/sue_denimme
Summary: Bill has a few questions for the Doctor.





	Any Sky

**Author's Note:**

> This was written between the first broadcasts of The Pyramid at the End of the World and The Lie of the Land, and meant to take place after the Monks Trilogy, so there might be a (hopefully minor) thing or two that's a bit "off".
> 
> The adventure that the Doctor refers to is The Sensorites, from his first incarnation, which is the first time he solved a problem for strangers, with nothing in it for him other than goodwill.

Bill feels a bit stupid now, when she thinks back. She should've realized. The way he'd trailed his fingers over things before picking them up. The way he'd taken to wearing his shades all the time, indoors, outdoors, day, night. The way he'd insisted that people describe pictures or writing that were right in front of his face. Nardole suddenly turning into Captain Obvious. 

He'd told Nardole. Well, that's no surprise -- he's known Nardole longer than her. He hadn't told her, until he had no other choice. 

Was it just ego? Sometimes she thinks his must be visible from orbit, though she can never tell if he's sincere or if he's taking the piss when he calls himself a "scary handsome genius from space". Anyway, even a genius from space can still make silly mistakes. Like pretending to not be blind, then ending up in a combination-locked room, with nobody else there to tell him the numbers on the lock. Classic. Only the Doctor could get into a situation like that. Outwitted by a piece of metal and plastic. 

If it hadn't scared her silly, and led to him nearly dying and her doing a deal with extras from Night of the Living Dead who'd then conquered the Earth, she'd have laughed. Instead, she's just relieved that everything looks like it might be getting back to normal. As normal as anything gets around him. 

It isn't as cold up on the glacier as she'd thought it would be; she's quite comfy for the most part in her denim jacket with the geeky patches. Franz Josef Glacier, the Doctor had called it, and then he'd gone into an epic ramble about a dinner he'd once attended with the emperor it was named after. Also, Androgums, though what those are she has no idea. Anyway, now he's laid his coat on the snow and stretched out on top of it, arms behind his head, staring up at the incredible dark sapphire blue of the New Zealand sky, looking like he might have been on the beach at Honolulu, except for being a bit overdressed. 

"Doctor?" 

She's not sure he heard at first, but finally he graces her with a sort of response. "Mm?" 

"What color is the sky on your planet?" 

He frowns, as if she's just asked something she shouldn't have, and seems to consider for a moment. "Orange," he finally answers. 

She tries to picture what sort of life would evolve on a planet with an orange sky. Well, Time Lords, obviously, but apart from them. "Orange? Like the fruit?" 

"Not really. Amber would be more accurate, actually. Why?" 

"Just curious." She hesitates. "Does a blue sky look weird to you?" 

"Seriously? I see a sky, and I'm going to criticise? Any sky looks good to me." 

Fair enough. And a fairly big admission, coming from him. She keeps it simple, just smiles and murmurs, "I'm glad you get to see it too. I just wonder sometimes..." 

Long, long pause. "You just wonder what sometimes?" 

Bill takes a deep breath. "What do you see in us? I mean, Earth. Well, humans. You seem to know a lot about us for an alien. It's like you've studied us forever. Not like the Monks -- like you just think we're really, really interesting. And I can't help wondering why. We're violent, we pollute and exploit everything we touch, we're prejudiced and mean and selfish, and just horrible sometimes. If I were an alien who could go anywhere, anywhen, of all the places to go, Earth would be quite far down the list. I wouldn't live here, and I definitely wouldn't keep saving us so often they make me president." 

He's gazing at her curiously now. "Would you rather I didn't?" 

"No! On behalf of the human race, I'm flattered. Keep on, by all means. It's just, there must be lots of places that are more beautiful, where the people are smarter and nicer and don't blow each other up. But you picked us. Why?" 

"Well..." He trails off, and appears to be really thinking about it. Judging from his reaction, he probably doesn't get asked this question often, if ever. His eyebrows seem to slowly jump up and down a couple of times. Finally, he ventures, "Well, I quite like your tea. And some of your telly is good. Your sci-fi is hilarious. And there's Beethoven. Did I show you the sheet music he autographed for me?" 

"Doctor. If you'd rather not say, or it's a stupid question or whatever, just tell me. I can take it." 

"What, you think I'm being tactful? That'd be different." He takes a few more minutes, the lines between his eyebrows deepening. She wonders what thoughts are whizzing through that quicksilver brain of his, and on how many tracks. He puffs out a long breath from between his lips. "Well, once upon a time, I stole a TARDIS and left my planet. Our planet. My granddaughter and I. You've seen her picture, on my desk. We came to Earth, picked up a couple of humans. Long story short, they saved me, I saved them, now I'm president." He smiles wryly, like he's both amused and bemused by that. Maybe even sort of touched. 

"Wait, your granddaughter? You have kids, and a granddaughter?" 

"Had," he says. 

The obvious question that first springs to mind dissolves before she can blurt it out, as she clearly hears the unspoken boundary being drawn: that's all she's getting. She can't really blame him; his past is his. If he liked talking about it, he would have done by now. His silence implies the answer, anyway. "Okay... So basically you returned the favor, we returned it back, you returned that, and it's like a big tennis match, only with favors, that just goes on forever?" 

He snorts. "Interesting way of putting it, but yeah, something like that." 

"So that's how your whole thing -- saving people, I mean -- that's how it got started?" 

"If I tell you, do I get to shut up and just look at the sky?" 

Bill smiles. She's not an expert yet at determining when he's blustering and when he's serious, but she's pretty sure that sounded like bluster. "Maybe if you tell me you'll find out." 

"Oh, that's your little game, is it?" He heaves a put-upon sigh, but his lips quirk slightly until he scowls to make them stop. "We came across a planet once, we being me, my granddaughter, and our two humans. This planet had a lot of nice people, a few really bad ones, most of them neutral, the usual. They had beards that went up. All of them, even the women. Actually, not sure they had sexes as such. I never asked. Anyway, there was a plague. People were dying. One of my humans got sick too. I looked into it. Turned out it was some other humans poisoning their water, to get rid of them so the humans could move in and have this mineral they wanted. So I stopped them, created an antidote, saved the natives, and my human. You know how good it feels when you beat a really tricky puzzle, especially with a deadline? Powerful stuff, being clever. I may have got a little bit addicted." 

"To what? Altruism?" 

"Well, you don't have to make it sound like a bad thing." That is definitely a mock scowl he's doing now. 

She laughs. "So you're an altruism junkie, as well as being an adrenaline junkie. Quite a combination." 

"Excuse me, I'm a cleverness junkie. Kindly get it right, thank you very much." 

"So the saving people and the derring-do are just side effects?" 

Shrug. "Maybe. Never really thought of it that way. Well, there's me all figured out. So much for my mystique, then." 

"Doctor? Shut up and look at the sky." 

He does.


End file.
